The Emergency Department (A&E) provides ready access to emergency nursing and medical care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The department provides clinical services to treat the range of problems with which patients present as an emergency or urgently, from life-threatening conditions to minor injury and illness, in all age groups from babies to the elderly.
The clinical team in the Emergency Department, led by specialists in emergency medicine and nursing, seeks to provide patients with the best clinical care as quickly as possible, as well as to allay the distress and anxiety which is often associated with accidents and emergencies. The Trust continues to aim to treat and admit or discharge all patients within 4 hours, except when patients’ clinical needs dictate that the patient continue to receive treatment in the Emergency Department for longer.
We aim to keep patients fully informed about their investigations and treatment, so facilitating involvement in decisions about their treatment. The department undertakes continuous self-monitoring to ensure that patients are both treated promptly and made as comfortable as possible during their stay.
Conditions treated
We see and treat patients with a range of conditions from relatively minor problems to life threatening conditions.
Service performance
Since the new hospital opened in 2005, an increasing number of patients have presented to the Emergency Department at UCH. In the 2009/10 financial year, the numbers attending A&E exceeded 100,000 for the first time, and in the current year (2010/11) attendance to date has increased by about 5% above that for the same period last year. Year to date, 98.88% of patients have been seen within the 4 hour target.
Patient aftercare
Following treatment in the Emergency Department, most patients are discharged, when appropriate with arrangements to be followed up in a hospital clinic or General Practice. A discharge summary should be sent to the patient’s GP (if the patient is registered with a GP), giving details of investigations and treatment in the department, and any recommendations for aftercare.
If a patient needs to be admitted to hospital, his / her care will be taken over by one of the inpatient specialty teams in the Trust.